Page 4 of A Harmony of Procellarum

TINY

I am a fucking fool!

When will I ever learn that responding to anyone associated with Deluge means I could die, or be kidnapped? What’s worse, I responded tohim.After everything he’s done to me, after all the shit I endured at his hands, all he had to do was text me to make me come running.

“Stupid fucking bitch!” I snarl, my fist hitting the concrete wall of my prison with the force of my anger.

“Now, now.” Atsksounds behind me as I spin to find him standing there, his dark eyes twinkling with mirth. “That’s no way to speak of yourself.”

“Where’s Squall?” I rush forward, my fists curled at my waist, my right one throbbing with the motion. “You said he was in trouble.” My chest feels like it’s ceasing in my chest, adding to the list of pains coursing through me at the hands of this man … again.

“Made you come running, didn’t it?” he sneers, his back bending to position his face directly in front of mine. “See what love makes you become? A fool. Love makes you look fucking foolish.”

Torrent James looks nothing like his older brother, Raiden, but I can see the same evil tint in his eyes and the same privileged tone of his voice. But that’s where the similarities end. Torrent has locs the color of granite grazing his shoulders, and his eyes are deep pools of graphite, shining with every evil intention. His left eyebrow is decorated with two rings, and I know when he opens his mouth, his tongue is forked like a snake’s.

“Weren’t you supposed to be in a hospital? Huh?” I taunt him, my fists landing at my waist. I may be tempting the devil, but if he already wants to kill me, I won’t be able to change his mind. “Did you escape the looney bin?”

His eyes harden, the twinkle of mischief snuffed out and something sinister replaced as his jaw ticks beneath his graying beard.

“Watch your mouth, stripper,” he snarls as his hand wraps around my throat to haul me into his hard body. “With one twist of my wrist, I could break your fucking neck.”

“Do it.” I shrug, my throat working beneath his palm. “That’s why I’m here, right? Am I your next sacrifice, you devil humping bastard?”

Those long, tatted fingers tighten around my throat, the tips digging into the tender flesh and cutting off my air supply. His handsome face comes in closer, his nose bumping against mine.

“Martina Charles, you will die soon and I hope it’s by these very hands, but it won’t be today. Besides,” he growls as he releases me with a shove. I stumble backward until my ass hits the wall as I claw at my throat for air. “You’re not good enough to sacrifice.”

“You tried to once before,” I choke out. “You had me on an altar and everything.”

His ample lips widen over a devious smile as he lets loose a husky chuckle. “Tiny, I wasn’t sacrificing you. I was hoping to display your dead body to the man I love, hoping he would see just how much of a waste of breath you truly are.”

“The m-man you … the man y-you…” I stutter through my words, my voice hoarse from the pressure of his fingers.

“That’s right, Tiny. Before you came along with your loose pussy, I was his all. We were childhood sweethearts. As much as we could be in that fucking place,” he spits out. His lips continue to move as his brows hang heavy over his eyes, the look of disgust written all over his face. But I can’t bring myself to hear a single syllable.

“You and Squall—”

“Sval!” he cuts me off as spittle flies from his mouth and lands on my cheeks. “His name is Sval!”

My hearing may be failing me, but my eyes aren’t. Torrent is in love with Squall. Everything that’s happened right up to this point is starting to make sense. I stepped unknowingly into a secret love affair and created a treacherous triangle. I understand why he wanted me dead, because the same look he has right now is one I’ve seen in Squall’s eyes when we’re together.

He raises a fist between us and I ready myself for the impact. If he’s going to hit me, then so be it. Maybe I fucking deserve it for not seeing what was clearly right there in front of my eyes.

“He and I swore our souls to a love we knew was doomed from the start.” His voice cracks as I open my clenched eyes and watch as his fingers slowly unfurl, exposing his palm.

It takes me a few moments before the faded points start to appear. My heart lurches up into my throat when I begin to connect all the dots. I know this mark. It’s the same one etched into Tempest’s stomach and burned into Sky’s back. I know what it means, and the sight of it on the palm of the man I hate, for the man I love, makes me sick to my stomach.

“I know what that means.” The words are ripped out of my throat as my eyes blur with unshed tears. My heart cracks in my chest, the sound echoing through my ears. “I didn’t know.”

His hand drops back to his side as his body deflates, the tension bleeding out of him within seconds. “I know you didn’t know. No one does.” His hand scrubs down his face as he inhales a loud breath. “We did it when we were barely out of our teens, after we endured the most horrific things.” His obsidian eyes meet mine and in their inky depths I see only agony. “I will not kill you, and most days,” he taps his temple, “I can think clearly enough to remind myself of what you don’t know. But it doesn’t make me hate you any less. You inserted yourself inside his heart and you pushed me aside. Whether you knew it or not.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper because it’s the truth, but that’s not the only reason. I say it because there’s nothing I can do to change it. I’m in love with Squall. “I tried to leave it all behind. I wasn’t going to have anything more to do with you guys. I was done, Torrent.”

“Maybe.” He nods, his lips tipping upward into a sad smile. “Maybe you were done, but I know he wasn’t. He was there, outside of your apartment tonight. I know you saw him too.”

“You know how he is. He probably needed to make sure I was where I was supposed to be.” I shrug my shoulders, but I can’t help how my heart warms at the thought. He was there watching me, and it gives me a sick satisfaction knowing Torrent saw it.

I hate that we have this foul competition between us, but it’s there, and regardless of how I feel about their situation, I want to win. I can’t change who I am on the inside and she’s a fierce competitor, always has been.

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